County Netball success
Headington Rye Oxford’s Netball squads are celebrating after a near clean sweep at the County Netball Tournament.
After the U19s, U16s and U14s took to the court at the tournament on Saturday 9th November – winning 20 out of 24 games played across the three teams – the School ended with the U16s as County Champions and the U14s as runners up meaning both progress to the regional finals.
In the morning the U19 squad took on eight other schools, from host school St Helen & St Katharine in Abingdon to Lord Willams’s in Thame. Each game the squad came together, all players working hard and supporting each other on and off the court. The U19 team only lost one game to overall winners St Helen and St Katharine, leaving the girls tied with Bloxham for second place. The final result came down to goal average, with Headington Rye narrowly missing out on the win.
Head of Netball Mrs Layla Slade said: “We are so happy and proud of the girls for their podium finish! We’re really looking forward to an exciting Netball season ahead next term.”
In the afternoon it was the turn of the U14 and U16 squads. The U14s had an initial loss in their first game, but they all worked hard, supported each other throughout and just kept on winning!
With only one loss and no one else near, they finished with silver medals, going through to the next round on 1st February for the regional competition.
While the U14 squad were working hard, so were the U16s. The netballers had a strong start, only conceding one goal for their first game.
This continued throughout the day. Players were rotated and lots of combinations tried and up until the last game they had conceded only 12 goals all day.
The final game was tough and came down to the final seconds and a penalty – which was scored to win the game and crown the girls as county champions, winning a place at the regional competition.
Mrs Slade said: “This was an incredible day and congratulations go to all of our squads for an amazing performance.
“We are very proud of the girls, as they should be of their hard work and dedication for this stage, we are excited for regionals!”
